Chug Chug the 1977 Westfalia Helsinki

Well I enjoyed Volksfest Wales despite the bad weather. We arrived on Thursday night cos a few of our friends were trading. We still paid normall price before anyone starts wingeing.

Despite the nice weather on Tursday we decided to play safe & camp on high ground pitched up our little camp & got drunk had a stroll around the site & then got even more drunk, before we knew it it was 2am & I stumbled into the camper.
Lazed around friday doing more drinking & more wandering around looking at some of the trade stands & the quality VW's around the place. Bought myself a kettle from Britania towing & fitted my new dash vents on finally.

Had a good few on Friday & overdone it a bit I must confess I had my boots up that night but I still had to get up early to help with the Porthcawl Crawl.

Thoroughley enjoyed marshaling the crawl as it meant that I saw every vehicle & still jumped in at the end. My bus didn't run properly all weekend its lost all its power & feels gutless I'm not yet sure whats wrong.

Porthcawl was a washout I feel sorry for all the businesses there they can't be making much money in this weather.
Headed back to my post & marshaled the convoy back a few people had left early but got them self lost which was quite amusing.

 

Saturday night was St. Trinians theme night & it was a great laugh the bands on were great & we ended up partying untill late. Again I overdone it but wasn't ill this night thankfully.

Had to get up early again on Sundday to help with the show & shine, had a few arseholes there someone parked a shed of a Saab right in the middle of the display area & left it there all day another aukward cow parked her crap Rover in the way despite a marshal telling her to move it & it was only after we threatened to tow it that she moved cursing like mad. The one that cracked me up was the woman with the M-class merc who tried to park in the display area cos she didn't want to get it dirty or stuck in the mud, why buy a 4X4 just to take the kids to school :shrug:

I enjoyed the show & shine but decided not to display my bus because I was judgeing & that wouldn't be fair. Numbers were down on last year so a lot of people automatically won just because there were not enough cars in their class, having said that there were some really nice vehicles there & the Split Screen Campers were particullary hard to judge.

Everyone seemed to have enjoyed & if I had the chance to do it all again I would.

 

Yesterday my mother recovered the last seating area cushion & now its just the rear matress & the top bed to do, she wasn't happy with the cut of the cloth one part had a hole init & the the patern runs out accross it all so I'm going to get onto them to change it for me.

 

Another job I takled yesterday was my Westy water pump, it is always leaking so I never use it. Decided to visit a local camping shop & I bought an in-line pump for £35.00 & some new hose I've now wired this in & as soon as I get my new Zig unit & leasure battery installed it will be working.

 

Chug Chug drove up to Margum lovely no problems at all but when I stopped it didn't sound right it was as if it was missing on one cylinder.
Yesterday I was supposed to be going away init for a week but I wanted it running right first so I bought myself 4 new plugs of the correct type & fitted them in, checked my static timing & my points gap all were fine, I then asked Ben to come up & give me a hand & although he was relaxing in his house on his day off up he came to give me a hand (Cheers pal) We had a couple of drinks & set to it checked the valve clearances & found that No 3 cylinder had a tight inlet valve so I rectified that but it still isn't right, I rang Laurie Pettit & as usuall he was very helpfull but there is only so much you can do over the phone. He sudgested that I drive up to his place in Scotland & he'll sort it out for me there & then, he's even lending me his T25 camper what a gent. So thats it for now I'm off to Scotland 450 miles away, I'll have my camera & lap top with me so I'll try to update you later.

 

Well we set off & the bus drove really nice by the time I got to Brecon I was beginning to wonder if it was worth me going to Scotland it was runnihng like a dream. I filled up with £30.00 in Newtown next to Lidl & carried on my way just before Welshpool I suddenly lost power & pulled over the kids started shouting about a burning smell so I pulled on to the curb & got everyone out, there was smoke poaring from the side vents I grabbed my Dry powder fire extinguisher & shot it all down the vents both sides & the smoke stopped. Next thing smoke started again, a passing guy in a Landrover gave me another extinguisher this time a foam one & again the smoke seemed to stop by now I had a big crowd of people as all the passing cars stopped to look by the time the fire brigade came the rear was fully alight & the engine lid was glowing red.

Fair play to the fire brigade they waded straight in with 2 hoses untill I warned them about the LPG bottle that made them run away sharpish but they still sprayed watter from a distance. Next thing they ran out of water & had to wait for another applience to come next thing the interior of the bus was ablaze & I'm not ashamed to say I started crying like a baby. It tokk a further 2 appliances with foam to completly put the bus out & it was clear by then 90% of it was ruined.

Supprizeingly enough I didn't have my camera to hand But my daughter did take a few pictures with her phone.

I'd like to thank Welshpool fire brigade for dooing their best to help me they were very efficient & proffesional they just couldn't save Chug Chug The 2 police officers on the scene PC Gayle Jones & her male coleuge were very helpfull & sympathetic I really nice familly Mark & Cerys Williamson & their daughters boyfriend Ben were verry nice to us they took my wife & kids to their house offered them food & drink & even offered to put us all up for the night, they also gave Katy my youngest a pair of shoes cos she left hers in the camper.

Finally Dingle Hall Garage recovered Chug Chug & took him & us to Brecon some 2 hrs away & there we met up with Dragon Rescue & the driver Alister took us all the way home. Both drivers were reall nice guys & very helpfull. Chug Chug is now residing in my garage. On the way home we jotted all our possessions down on a bit of paper & we got to £5K without food & clothes. I lost my phone both my cameras my daughters both lost their iPods a PSP a Nintendo DS & a lap top we had numerous other things of high value also including most of my tools & even my Haynes manual.
I got to say I'm truely gutted I'm hoping by some mirricle I'll be able to bring Chug Chug back to life but its not looking good at the moment The gearbox has actually completly melted away leaving the driveshafts hanging there.

 

Some more pics

 

As the shel is twisted & buckled beyond repair I have been thinking long & hard & come to a decision with a few friend input also.
Once the insurance who quite frankly so far have been Marmite have assessed it I'm going to get my brothers pick-up empty all the ash & crap out of it power wash it inside & out, dry it & cover it inside & out with clear laquer. Then I'm going to replace the torosion bars, gearbox & engine, re-wire it all new rear lights etc & use it as the ultimate Rat-look, sounds crazy but its going to happen. I'm hoping to start next weekend & if anyone fancies giving me a hand call down.

 

This is the list of everything we can think of that has been lost:
Lap top ( 8 months old)
Camera's x2
Amy's phone & charger
Chris's phone & charger
Nintendo DS & 10 games
PSP & 3 games
4x rechargeable batteries & charger
GHD straighteners
hairdryer
tent x2
20x tent pegs (bought in bug jam)
sleeping bags x2
king size duvet & cover
7x pillows & pillow cases
thermal blinds (3 months old)
kettle (bought last week)
awning light (bought on Monday)
8x Duracell batteries
4x wellies (bought for last weekend)
1 pair of DC's (3 months old)
1 pair of Vans trainers (3 months old)
Clarks boots (8 months old)
Clarks shoes (1 month old)
other shoes x3
full tank of petrol
£110 cash (Amy's & Katy's money for birthday & AS results)
£800 cash (Chris' from sale of his Escort)
Amy & Katy's ID cards
Amy's provisional driving license
Amy's student discount card
Amy's Clarks discount card
Katy's gift cards x4 (all with £10 on given for her birthday)
Saucepans x3 prestige make (very expensive!)
brand new Morgan bag full of Amy's clothes
brand new piglet bag full of Katy's clothes (mostly birthday presents)
lots of piglet stationary (Birthday presents again!)
7x library books
3 pairs of Yvonne's favourite trousers & 5 of Yvonne's favourite tops
all of Yvonne's, Amy's & Katy's make-up
hairbrushes
toiletries
ipod x 80Gb x2
Hoola hoops x2 (again birthday presents)
towells x4
2 pairs of Chris' jeans, 4 of his camper T-shirts, camper jacket, welsh flag belt
6x coats - winter & rain jackets
umbrella
torch x2
2 sets of green bowls, plates, cups, cutlery
2 sets of purple bowls, plates, cups, cutlery
sharp kitchen knife
kitchen tongs
barbeque
charcoal
plenty of food, chocolate & drinks (alcoholic and pop)
Haynes manual
UK atlas (1/2 hr old)
fluke meter
Halfords 130 piece socket set
Halfords 21 piece spanner set
Draper 12 piece insulated screwdriver set
Dewallt 18v drill in box with 2x2.6amp hour batteries & charger
Draper large torque wrench
Draper small torque wrench
Mole grips
brand new stanley knife
old stanley knife
pliers
long nose pliers
wire cutters
gas soldering iron kit
solder roll
Facom ratchet crimpers
Stanley claw hammer,
rubber mallett
clamp meter
4x chairs
many bottles of Auto Glym car cleaning products
Becker Sat Nav
CD's
brand new shampoo, conditioner, shower gel
petrol can
BVF & Bug Jam plaques & stickers
Westfalia hammock
Westfalia dash table
Westfalia table
Westfalia stool
Westfalia mosquito blind
Loads of other stuff we can't even think of! Very depressing! We reckon over £5k in replacement value.

 

This nice guy called Pickle Picke had his kids draw some pictures of Chug Chug I'm really touched:-

 

Thanks to everyone for their support, you guys have been brilliant, everyone has been very kind, I know its strange & a lot of people haven't been so lucky as me but it does feel like a berevement obviously this is a drop in the ocean compared to the loss of a person & its just me being stupid, but the last 3 days I've not done anything, I've just been moping around the house lost. I've spent all my time & money on Chug Chug over the last 18mths I've worked overtime just to buy stuff sold other stuff on eBay just to get cash & its all gone up in smoke.

You'll all be glad to know I feel much happier today & have started looking at other campers on the net etc.

Reading all of the sympathy posts I've had has helped a lot & today I'm glad that everyone I love & care about is fit & healthy, hopefully this tragedy has spared me a far worse one in the future.

The insurance company are a bit Marmite I've had to chase them constantly & they aren't coming to see the bus untill next thursday 9 days after the fire so when they intend to cough up is anyones guess.

One guy I spoke to in the insurance office Trinety Lane (through Volksworld insurace services) was very helpfull however & explained to me that as the bus has been in a bad fire its likely to be a class A insurance total loss & I will not be aloud to keep it because of the carsonogenic chemicals that are in it. It has to go to an authorised disposal centre & poor Chug Chug will be crushed.

To be honest though I want to get rid of Chug Chug from my drive now because its very depressing to see it there everytime I leave the house, the smell is terrible & it makes me feel sick everytime I get within 6 feet of it also the carbon & rust is staining my garage floor & driveway.

I'm going to ask the insurance company if I can take off some bits.
I want to keep the front beam complete wheel to wheel, the tow bar, the front bumper, the headlights, the indicators, the grill, the No. plate & the badge.

I will have a short fall of £2,600.00 on the contents so I'll want to sell off some of these parts to offset against that.

I am now looking for a Late Westy that is original & mint, must be 2.0L & preferably Fuel injection.

 

I'm afraid the ratter is out of the question now the assessor has been he is going to recomend a cat A which is destruction olny, I am alowed to remove the lights & indicators, No. plate & grill but not the doors or the beam. & Chug Chug will be put through a fragmentor & destroyed. He will be collected one day next week & then that will be the end of him, its very sad & such a shame but there isn't anything I can do about it even if he put it as a cat B I'd need to be a licenced breaker to take bits off.

 

The insurance assessor told me the fire was caused by one of the floats in a carb spliting & petrol spraying every where. He diagnosed this not knowing the carbs were new, he didn't open the engine bay untill later & he didn't know what make of carbs I had.
I'm sure he was making it up but I didn't want to argue & complicate things I want him on my side after all.
I've no idea really what caused it but I would like to know to avoid it happening again.

 

Here are some pics of the stuff inside:-
My screwdrivers, they are so good I bought another set they are top notch quality & really take a hamering no tips have broken after 2 years use.
Old ones


New ones


Dewalt 18V drill battery charger & 2 batteries.


Maggots on the front mat disgusting:-


My Halfords socket & spaner set & my fathers socket set which is 40 years old my mother gave me those when he died when I was 14 & I've looked after them all this time


My fluke multi meter I was given by British steel when I passed my apprenticeship I've looked after that too, also pictured my daughters new lap top & my rechargeable torch


Camping chairs & clothes, these were under the seat so excaped the flames just suffered the heat.


Snap-on screwdriver set.